Page 15 of Flight of Fate

By everything that is holy?—

My power stops dead, and my heart hammers in my throat at the scent of my mate’s blood.

Ten

Ayna

Slow down-slow down-slow down,I beseech my racing heart. The faster it pumps, the faster it will spill my lifeblood on the forest ground.

There is no escape from the iron hold the Fire Fairy has on me and with the steel at my neck. Myron’s expression of horror tells me he knows it, too.

If only I could shift back. Even if the twin sliced deep into my neck, it would give us a moment of surprise, and I’d be able to use my healing powers to seal it back together.

“One wrong move and she’s carrion,” the Flame behind me growls, and I could swear the air goes thick with Myron’s ire as he beholds the male while, in the background, his brother has freed Gus, and the screams of pain have turned into murmurs. I can only assume the other twin is healing the injured male, for I don’t dare turn my gaze away from my mate, who has gone so still he could be hewn from that glimmering rock the fairy palace is made of.

“Good Crow King,” the twin purrs, shaving off one of my feathers as he moves the blade a fraction of an inch up my throat. Biting down on the caw of pain, I hold still so I don’t push the sharp edge of the blade deeper into my skin. “If you know what’sgood for you, you’ll accompany us to King Recienne’s palace and support our mission.”

Myron doesn’t hesitate to ask, “What mission?”

That costs the male a dark chuckle promising nothing less than violence and pain. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?”

“If I am supposed to support it, I probablyshouldknow.” He means it. He’s ready to consider whatever they suggest just to spare me because that’s how ruthless Myron is when it comes to the people he loves.

“Something small, really. An offer to spare his realm if he decides to step down and hand it over willingly.”

My blood turns to ice.

No. No-no-no. If Recienne hands Askarea over to Ephegos as Erina’s general, there won’t be a war on the fairylands, but he won’t stop at that. He’ll take Cezux in a heartbeat by utilizing the magic-wielding armies he’d gain in the bargain. And Recienne—I doubt Erina would let him live, even if he abdicated to make space for the human king and his magic-suppressing weapons. Who knows what Erina would do to keep those fairy powers in check; perhaps poison the water supply of Aceleau to make sure no one could rise against him… My stomach turns at the mere thought of it—and what Erina would do if he found out Queen Sanja is pregnant.

“If you think Recienne gives a damn about the Queen of Crows, you are making a mistake.” Myron’s gaze is cold, composed the way I knew him during those first weeks when I was brought to the Seeing Forest, no trace of the male who advocates to save the lives of civilians in a war that will claim too many casualties on either side.

His words don’t even sting because he’s right. I mean nothing to Recienne DePauvre of Askarea. I’m the Queen of Crows, and not even very capable at that. If anyone could be persuaded to step down, it’s Myron.

My chest seizes as I realize this might very well be where things are headed.

“He might not care about her, but you do. And you are his ally.”

“If you believe he’ll give up his kingdom for my queen or me, you believe wrong.” Smoke still curls around Myron’s fingers, his all-black eyes so close to those of the monster I first met that I need to convince myself with a glance at his featherless arms that he hasn’t turned back into that creature. But he has turned intosomething.

Before I can wonder why he’s able to command darkened strands of air like ink in water, the twin says, “You are merely our ticket in and out of the palace, Myron the Valiant.” His voice changes enough to make me wonder if he’s musing about why they call Myron that. “I don’t need to threaten your life to make clear how easy it is to sneak into King Recienne’s realm. If we got in that easily, others could, and they might not come to negotiate but to douse the royal Askarean family in magic-nullifying serum and slit their throats before moving on to the rest of their people until Askarea’s rivers run red.”

Shaelak be damned.

“I don’t need to emphasize that King Erina, soon-to-be-king of these lands, has an army gathered at the borders who is ready to march at a moment’s notice.” I try not to shudder at his words, at what they imply: that we might have intercepted that one delivery of Erina’s magic-sedating serum, but he has managed to supply his army otherwise. He hasn’t attacked, not because he isn’t strong enough but because he wants to give Recienne the opportunity to hand over this kingdom without shedding soldier blood. Not because he’s noble, trying to spare lives, but to save up his army to wage war on other territories.

Cezux, the Southern Continent—who says he’ll be satisfied once he holds all of Eherea? If Ephegos has shared with him thatan entire continent lies east of these lands, he might take these armies and sail across the oceans to conquer what no Eherean creature has ever set foot on.

Myron’s calculating gaze darts behind me and my captor, and I don’t think I imagine the infinitesimal nod that must be meant for Silas; wherever he is, he’s no longer fighting, frozen probably just as Myron by the sword at my throat.

The twin shifts an inch, nearly squeezing the air from me as he adjusts his grasp. I don’t dare move.

“You’ll make sure the Fairy King doesn’t kill us on sight, and you and your queen get to live.” What he doesn’t say is that living doesn’t equal freedom. As long as Ephegos lives, in his insane obsession with his sister’s death, he’ll strive for vengeance. And he won’t hesitate to use that vengeance as an excuse to grasp power left and right. Who says the males aren’t here on Ephegos’s behalf entirely, already bypassing the orders of the Tavrasian king?

From the corner of my eye, I spot movement—Gus, the second twin supporting him, is limping up to our side, blood soaking his clothes around the holes Silas’s magic pierced with one well-aimed assault.

Myron and Silas are strong enough to take them down, but they are hesitating because of me.

Attack,I want to yell at them.Attack and let me die if the gods are ready to claim me. I’m of no use to you in this form.

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